Well, I was reflecting a little the other night too. Just taking a few screenshots of my awesomeness in WSG (Heh!) I browsed some of the older screenshots. I have screenshots going back over a year now. Like a photographic journey through life. (Well, the short lives of my characters.)

Not too long ago, there I was, Darkhoof, in Blackwing Lair, standing around Vael, etc;. All of us, me and my guildmates, decked out in incredible gear. We’ve got the sparkleys going, and big time. All of us in Tier 1 & 2. Sweet. There’s a mug shot of us up on the bank in Orgrimmar. We’re about to turn in a dragon head. Group photo op. Look at that gear! And if I were still stateside now I’d be raiding with them. They’ve just killed The Instructor in Naxx. Nice. If I were still raiding with them, if I hadn’t moved, in these last 4 months I’d certainly have accumulate some Tier 2 pieces. Class Leader, on every raid, yeah. I’d be there.

But now I struggle for rep and honor for gear to help me in my new life. Shaman vs. Environment in the world, and Shaman vs. Players in the BG’s. Tier 2 wasn’t going to help much there.

It was a nice trip down memory lane. Seeing those old pictures. Darkhoof’s whole progression from leather wearing noob goofing around outside the Sepulcher, his first raid on Menethil Harbor, through Sunken Temple and the dungeons, and into MC and BWL. Oh those were the days.

Not just Darkhoof, but other characters too. Msaker (aka Oddity). Darkhand. (I didn’t take any screenshots with Kinless/Arcarius. The ctrl-print screen command was unknown to me for months. (This game was/is so easy who needs a manual to play?))

A favorite screenshot of mine is Greenclaw and Itarilde sitting on the subway station benches in Stormwind City. We’re wearing the basic leather armors, carrying sticks. So young.

So, this morning, I’m contemplating life with Msaker. What are his current goals? Become a PvP god? Nah. I’ve got a wife and a job. I want an officer rank though. A couple of the PvP set pieces. If I made Legionnaire I’d be happy. (I don’t need the PvP mount since I’ll be able to get the Frostwolf mount. If I get 900g together!)

Do I want my Tier 0 set? Before this morning I’d say “Of course! Why not!? Are you nuts? Gear matters, man! Are you insane?” But then I was thinking, and reading around a lot, and this Tier 0 stuff, yeah, all nice blue stuff, aren’t I going to be replacing them soon enough with greens from the Outlands? The level 64 greens will be better than the Tier 0 stuff. No?

Do I invest countless runs in four instances to accumulate the Tier 0 set if I can get better just from a running a few quests in the Outlands later?

Or do I just run them once to get the “Been there, done that, got the plans/recipes/etc.” out of the way? Then 60 with the Frostwolf epics in hand, do I simply retire for a bit and work on some other characters again?

Has the imminent arrival of the Expansion had you reconsider your plans for the current end-game? I’m curious.

P.S. When I can I’ll mix in some of the screenshots I’m talking about in the text above.

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To answer your question, yes. BC has certainly made me rethink my end-game plans. I’ve spent a lot of time and energy trying to get my guild into 20 man raids with limited success. We’ve done ZG and will start AQ20 this month, but I just don’t enjoy it that much. It’s fun when you’re successful, but I don’t enjoy the logistics of trying to keep that many people happy.

At this point I’m just shooting for Rank 7, maybe 8. Those are decent upgrades for the gear I have and it’s a reachable goal. I don’t have to keep other people happy, just do my own thing.

When BC arrives I look forward to the new 5 man instances. I think it’ll be fun to explore new 5 man content, not to mention 10 man. Larger than that and it just ceases to be as much fun for me, just feels like work.

If I hit my PvP goal before BC arrives, I think I’ll just start working on my levelling my hunter and priest, or maybe take a breather and level a non-guilded toon. Could be nice😛

I only need two more pieces of my tier .5 set armor. It was one of my goals to get the full set just to spite Blizzard for making it so difficult. My other goal was to make a max twinked level 19 and kill 6 people at the same time. Hehehe one mission down one to go.

When the expansion comes out I am going to have fun doing nothing but the new instances. As soon as I step through the dark portal I ill be high tailing it to the Burning Citadel.

Yes, the Expansion has helped me move past end-game raiding. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I feel like I will be able to enjoy all aspects of WoW in the BC.

I am really looking forward to the PVP changes. I’m tired of the constant defeats in AV on my Horde Druid, and the hopeless AB and WSG games on my Alliance Mage. I’m ready to say goodbye to the current ranking system.

TBC hasn’t been released yet and I’m already looking at my raiding period with nostalgia.

“Remember when we had to get 40 people to raid Molten Core?” “Remember when you had to do Onxyia with at least 35?”

I think our core group of raiders are going to blast through BC to get to 70 and raid the 25-mans. Leveling up is trivial to many of them, the fun is in the end-game encounters.

Honestly, I’d rather take it slow again. I’ve been there, done that (actually I am still doing) the raiding scene of 3-4 hours a night, several nights a week. And while I haven’t minded the amount of time it took, I look forward to being able to log on for only 1 or 2 hours and still accomplishing something the way I’ll be able to do in TBC.